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Mental health disorders are among the leading worldwide causes of disease and long-term disability. This issue has a long and painful history of gradual de-stigmatization of patients, coinciding with humanization of therapeutic approaches. What are the current trends in Russia regarding this issue and in what ways is it similar to and different from Western countries? IQ.HSE provides an overview of this problem based on research carried out by Svetlana Kolpakova.

On September 5, Laurie Manchester, Associate Professor of History at Arizona State University, presented her paper on voluntary repatriation of Russians from China to the Soviet Union between 1935 and 1960. The presentation was part of the research seminar, ‘Boundaries of History’, held regularly by the Department of History at HSE University in St. Petersburg. HSE News Service spoke with Laurie Manchester about her research interests, collaborating with HSE faculty members, and the latest workshop.

Dr. Sabyasachi Tripathi, from Kolkata, India, is a new research fellow at HSE University. He will be working at the Laboratory for Science and Technology Studies of the Institute for Statistical Studies and Economics of Knowledge.

Russia’s effort to become a geoeconomic power in Asia alters the dynamics of the territorial dispute with Japan. Both Moscow and Tokyo aim to prevent Russia’s geoeconomic “pivot to Asia” becoming merely a pivot to China. Yet, a settlement is obstructed by the growing geoeconomic value of the Southern Kurils and Japan’s lack of an autonomous foreign policy.

The Asia-Pacific is, and in the foreseeable future will remain, the safest and least problematic part of the world as far as Russian security interests are concerned. The Russian Military Doctrine of 2014 clearly identifies NATO expansion and NATO activities close to the Russian borders as the main sources of external threat, alongside growing religious and political extremism and ethnic conflicts in the regions close to Russia. The Asia-Pacific is never mentioned directly. In the post-Soviet countries, Russia perceives that it is engaged in a decades-long, zero-sum game against the European Union and the United States. The relations with a number of European countries are poisoned by painful historical memories and ideological differences. The Ukrainian crisis already has led to some long-term changes in Russian defense policies, including the establishment of a new military infrastructure on Russia’s western borders.1